Pivotable telescope sight mount



1966 w. L. MAHONEY PIVQTABLE TELESCOPE SIGHT MOUNT Filed Oct 22, 1962 IN V EN TOR.

WOODROW L. MAHO NEY United States Patent M 3,226,868 PIVOTABLE TELESCOPE SIGHT MOUNT Woodrow L. Mahoney, 10129 NE. Saratoga St., Portland, Oreg. Filed Oct. 22, 1962, Ser. No. 232,097 2 Claims. (Cl. 421) This invention relates to improvements in telescope sight mounts on hunting rifles and has particular application to lever action top ejection rifles.

Telescopic sights cannot be used on such rifles without some provision for automatically moving the telescope out of the way of the ejected shell which is thrown upward out of a top opening in the receiver by the operation of the ejecting mechanism. Devices heretofore proposed for this purpose have been unsatisfactory because of objectionable modification of parts of the gun mechanism and because the proposed devices have tended to interfere to some extent with the smooth operation of the ejecting mechanism of the gun. Also, most devices heretofore proposed have operated by cam action which entails excessive friction and wear not only on parts of the telescope mount but also on certain parts of the rifle itself.

The general object of the present invention is, therefore, to provide an improved mechanism for swinging a telescope sight out of the path of an empty shell being ejected from a lever action, top ejection rifle. Another object is to provide a device for such purposes which .is

free of cam operators, which is inexpensive to manufacture and install, which is not subject to appreciable wear and which may be applied to certain conventional telescope mounts.

In the present construction, the telescope is swung to the left by a link connected with the floor plate or lever link on the bottom of the receiver which moves downward when the lever action is operated to eject a shell. The telescope mount starts to move out of the way as soon as initial movement of the lever takes place. By the time the lever has moved far enough to withdraw the shell from the barrel and eject it upwardly, the telescope is clear of the upward path of the shell so that the latter is freely ejected. Then, when the lever is closed to push a new shell into the barrel, the floor plate rises and swings the telescope back into sighting position. All this is accomplished automatically by the usual manipulation of the lever action of the rifle so that there is no possibility of the telescope ever preventing proper ejection of the shell.

The invention will be better understood and the foregoing and additional objects will become apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated on the accompanying drawing. Various changes may be made, however, in the details of construction and arrangement of parts, and all such modifications within the scope of the appended claims are included in the invention.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation view of a lever action rifle embodying the present invention, showing the lever action closed and the telescope in normal sighting position;

FIGURE 2 is a View similar to FIGURE 1 with the lever action in open position and the telescope swung out of the way of the ejected shell;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged cross section view taken on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view, partly in section, taken on the line 44 of FIGURE 1, but showing the ball socket with the ball connector removed therefrom.

3,226,868 Patented Jan. 4, 1966 The drawing, by way of example, illustrates a model of Winchester hunting rifle 10 having a conventional iron rear sight 9. Ejection of a shell is accomplished by a lever 11 which is pivotally mounted at 12 on the rear end of lever link 13 in the bottom of receiver 15 behind the barrel 16. The forward end of lever link 13 is pivotally connected to the receiver by a pin 17. When the lever 11 is closed, as in FIGURE 1, the lever link 13 does not appear in side view because it forms a floor plate for the receiver but, when the lever is moved to open position, the lever link 13 swings downward away from the bottom of the receiver as shown in FIGURE 2. When lever 11 is operated in this manner, bolt 18 is drawn back to open the receiver for ejection of a shell through top opening 19 in the receiver. This movement of the lever link is utilized to swing the telescope 20 out of the way of the the telescope in sighting position, as shown in broken lines in FIGURE 3. Further details of construction of the telescope mount itself are immaterial to the present invention.

The present improvement comprises essentially a link connected at its upper end to the clamp arm 25 and connected at its lower end to the lever link 13 to swing the telescope to the left so as to clear the shell ejection opening 19 when the lever link 13 moves down with the lever 11 in ejecting a shell. The upper end of link 30 is pivotally connected to a pin 31 in a bar bracket 32 mounted on telescope arm 25. The bar bracket is rigidly secured in a shallow groove 33 in the arm by a pair of screws 34. The groove 33 precisely fits the bar so that there is substantially no stress on the screws and they do not tend to work loose.

The lower end of link 30 is threaded at 35 to receive a threaded ball joint connector sleeve 36. The details of this fitting are shown in FIGURE 4. Its lower end is closed at 37 to form a bottom ball seat, and slidably mounted within the sleeve is a plunger 38 having a spherical depression 39 in its lower end to form a top ball seat. Vertical movement of the plunger is limited by a pin 40 which slides in a slot 41 in the sleeve. The plunger is urged toward its lower limit of movement by a compression spring 42. The lower end of sleeve 36 is provided with a side opening 43 to receive a ball connector 44 on a bracket arm 45. Bracket arm 45 is L-shaped as shown in FIGURE 3 and is secured to the bottom of lever link 13 by a pair of screws 46.

The operation will be apparent from the foregoing description of the construction. When lever 11 is swung downward to eject a shell through opening 19, the telescope is swung out of the way to its full line position in FIGURE 3. When lever 11 is pulled back to insert a new shell in the barrel, the upward movement of lever link 13 shifts the telescope back to its sighting position shown in broken lines in FIGURE 3.

Spring 42 serves two purposes. First, it performs the conventional function of retaining ball 44 in the socket formed by sleeve 36 and concave seat 39 while permitting the ball to be withdrawn through opening 43 for disconnecting the link. Second, the spring holds the telescope firmly seated in sighting position.

For the latter purpose, sleeve 36 is turned on threads 35 to adjust the length of the link so that stop 26 will seat on top of the rifle barrel just before lever ll; is moved to fully closed position. The final closing movement of lever 11 then raises ball 44 slightly farther than the link 30 will travel upward, causing plunger 38 to rise slightly in the sleeve against the compression of spring 4-2. This moves pin 40 up from the lower end of slot 41 so that the downward spring reaction from the lower end of the spring is exerted against ball 44 and the upward spring reaction from the upper end of the spring is exerted against link 30 whereby stop 26 is held in seated position on the rifle barrel by the force of spring 42 and there is no lost motion or play in the linkage. Opening 43 being of a size to admit the ball 44 permits such slight upward movement of the reduced neck 50 of the ball Within the opening.

This utilization of ball socket spring 42 obviates the necessity for a spring device'on the hinge pin 23 which would interfere to some extent with the operation of lever 11. Such rifles are equipped with frictional means to hold the lever 11 in closed position, such retention being su perior to the force of spring 42 whereby the latter does not tend to move the lever 11 to open position.

Ball 44 provides a universal joint to accommodate the complex movements resulting from the swinging of the ball about the axis of pin 17 and the swinging of the link about the axes of link pin 31 and main hinge pin 23. When it is desired to remove the telescope mounting from the rifle, the ball 44 may readily be snapped out of its socket so as to disconnect link 30 from the arm 45. The latter may remain permanently on the rifle since it does not project so as to interfere with manipulation of the rifle in using the conventional iron sights.

Having now described my invention and in what manner the same may be used, What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. In a mount for a telescope sight on a rifle having a receiver with a lever link for lever action and a Shell ejection opening in the top of the receiver, said mount having a part secured to one side of the receiver and a telescope clamp member hingedly connected to said part for movement toward and away from a seated sighting position on top of the rifle, the improvement comprising a connecting link pivotally connected at its upper end with said clamp member, a bracket arm on said lever link having a ball end, a socket for said ball on the lower end of said connecting link, and a spring in said socket acting downward against said ball to hold the telescope seated firmly in sighting position when the lever action is closed, said connecting link swinging the telescope to one side of said ejection opening when the lever action is operated to eject a shell.

2. A sight mount as defined in claim 1, said socket comprising a sleeve having threaded connection with said connecting link for length adjustment.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,425,130 8/1947 Shelley 421 2,499,878 3/1950 Raymond 42l6 2,501,137 3/1950 Minasola 4216 BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner.

R. V. LOTTMANN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A MOUNT FOR A TELESCOPE SIGHT ON A RIFLE HAVING A RECEIVER WITH A LEVER LINK FOR LEVER ACTION AND A SHELL EJECTION OPENING IN THE TOP OF THE RECEIVER, SAID MOUNT HAVING A PART SECURED TO ONE SIDE OF THE RECEIVER AND A TELESCOPE CLAMP ANOTHER HINGEDLY CONNECTED TO SAID PART FOR MOVEMENT TOWARD AND AWAY FROM A SEATED SIGHTING POSITION ON TOP OF THE RIFLE, THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING A CONNECTING LINK PIVOTALLY CONNECTED AT ITS UPPER END WITH SAID CLAMP MEMBER, A BRACKET ARM ON SAID LEVER LINK HAVING A BALL END, A SOCKET FOR SAID BALL ON THE LOWER END OF SAID CONNECTING LINK, AND A SPRING IN SAID SOCKET ACTING DOWNWARD AGAINST SAID BALL TO HOLD THE TELESCOPE SEATED FIRMLY IN SIGHTING POSITION WHEN THE LEVER ACTION IS CLOSED, SAID CONNECTING LINK SWINGING THE TELESCOPE TO ONE SIDE OF SAID EJECTION OPENING WHEN THE LEVER ACTION IS OPERATED TO EJECT A SHELL. 